by Max Jager
Meanwhile, Aurela was standing not too far away watching this all happen. She was at the edge of another watering hole. She wondered what Alerius could do? She knew he was in trouble but she was no fighter. She hadn't the slightest idea of how to fight. She knew a few tricks but nothing that would help Alerius. She wanted to so badly. She didn't want to see him get hurt. She loved him. She would do anything for him. She had to do something.
She suddenly felt a tremor under the ground. She looked around and saw another watering hole. It was huge! At least four times the size of the dragon snake watering hole. Again, she felt a tremor. This one was different from the monster's though. This one was deeper and more violent. Like something was deep down in the surface.
Aurela could feel a life presence below. Something big. Something very big! Something that might be able to help her. She ran towards Alerius and the monster, wanting to save her love.
Alerius dodged another strike. He was getting tired of this. He couldn't do this all day. He had to think of something but he had no weapons, no way of defending himself, and even if he did; they probably wouldn't work on the towering behemoth! Another strike came at Alerius and this time the monster snatched his leg! The teeth of the beast were driven deep into his leg and Alerius cried out in pain! The teeth themselves were bigger then Alerius's leg itself!
He was hoisted into the air! He started to hammer the creature's head with his fists but it was no good. Even with his inhuman strength the monster didn't even feel his primitive, pitiful attempt at protection. The thing was getting ready to flip him in the air and devour him. He had no idea how to stop it! He was dead!
Suddenly, a small patch of dirt hit the monster from behind its head. The creature swung around and Alerius screamed as he was swung around with it. Alerius dangled from its mouth and looked at Aurela. She was standing looking at him. He saw a small patch of dirt levitating in the air right beside her. Suddenly, it flew up at the creature and smacked it right in the eye.
The monster howled out with irritation and Alerius dropped to the ground. He grabbed his leg as it bled profusely creating a small puddle of blood. Alerius quickly grabbed his sweat soaked bandana around his head and tied it around his leg. He was hurt and hurt bad! His leg was twitching with pain but that was a minor note to what happened next!
Aurela stood ready with another patch of dirt hovering beside her. She had this mean look on her face and Alerius was astounded at her actions! She yelled up at the monster, "Come on! Eat me!"
Alerius tried desperately several times to get up but failed to. His leg was too badly hurt. There was no way he could apply any pressure. He figured that the bone had been crushed and that his entire leg was severally damaged, which it was all that and more.
The monster had already shaken the dirt from its eye and was already staring Aurela down with a lust for vengeance in its eyes. Another hunk of dirt splashed its face making it all the more mad. It lunged at Aurela but she got away in time.
Aurela threw up another piece of dirt at it. Alerius was behind the thing now screaming at the top of his lungs!
"Hey, you son of a maggot! I'm right here! You damn lopsided dragon! Come on, eat me! Come on, you damn son of a grub! I'm right here!"
Aurela was hoping and praying that the monster would not turn around. She levitated and tossed one more piece of dirt before running for the bigger watering hole. The monster suddenly lunged into the ground and followed Aurela from underneath the dirt. As Aurela ran, Alerius saw cracks appear rapidly in the ground and saw the surface collapse into itself leaving a visible trail that the monster was leaving.
Alerius began to crawl elbow over elbow towards Aurela but he would never make it in time. The monster would get to her before he could! Alerius was desperately trying but it was no use. The whole mission, the whole universe would end horribly and he would be to blame because he made a mistake. He couldn't let it end like this! No way!
Aurela about ran straight into the water of the bigger hole. She turned around and the huge monster blasted out of the ground about twenty feet in front of her. It scaled to almost forty stories high and Aurela looked up at it in horror! She had never been so scared in her life. Now more then ever, she hoped that something was hiding in this bigger watering hole.
The monster growled at her. It shifted to the left and the right. Bobbing like an angry snake. Suddenly, it lunged forth and all it got was a mouth full of dirt. It spit the dirt out and swiveled around to were Aurela had dodged to. It again lunged but Aurela began running again.
It missed and this time Aurela felt something go off in her mind. A warning. The ground began to shake. Aurela could feel this huge life force coming. Something that was immeasurably bigger then the dragon worm coming after her. She began running towards Alerius. The monster was about to burrow again into the ground and chase after her like before.
Aurela ran right past Alerius and Alerius watched in utter shock at what happen to the monster worm. The monster was about to head right into the ground but then it stopped as the ground turned from a shake to an earthquake! The dirt around the monster fell apart and began to fall deep inside the planet's surface. Alerius watched the worm fall into this big hole that had collapsed around it. Suddenly, he saw it pop out again but it was grasped by this huge tentacle that was about three times as big! It busted out of the ground making a hole all its own!
It wriggled about with the monster worm in its clutches. Then, out of the bigger watering hole, came another monster of unbelievable size. It blasted out of the watering hole draining all the water deep into the planet's core. The circumference of this bigger monster alone was about twenty city blocks, at least! Alerius could very well see that the tentacle with the monster snake/dragon was apart of this bigger menace.
This monster looked more like an amphibious squid. It had scales and eyes like a snake but it had tentacles and a beak like a squid. It's face almost looked like a reptilian bird of sorts. It was evil looking that was for sure.
Alerius felt a presence behind him and turned swiftly around. He looked and it was Aurela. She grabbed a hold of him and helped him up. She tried to support his weight but Alerius was standing fine on one foot. He had been trained to hold his balance for just such occasions. However, the sight before him about knocked him down again.
Alerius watched as the original monster wriggled about to get free of the reptilian squid but it was no use. The squid reptile lifted its prey high into the air and then hungrily sucked it down like a bird with a worm. Both Alerius and Aurela looked on in absolute disgust. The reptilian squid actually seemed to enjoy its living meal.
The snake/dragon let out this blood curdling scream! It writhed about trying to get out of the beak but it just seemed to add to the pleasure of the reptilian squid's delight. The squid was making these horrible sucking sounds combined with the noise of swallowing the monster down.
Alerius looked at Aurela and in a shaky voice said, "I think we better go! Now!" He began to hop along on one leg with incredible speed. Even Aurela with her two legs had a hard time trying to keep up.
They both ran as though they were being chased by the monster itself. Alerius had had a hard time standing on his one leg but he was having no problem now. Probably because of the adrenalin surging through him at that point. The pain of his leg and the gruesome display he had seen all added to his ability.
Suddenly, a quake began and Alerius was knocked off balance and fell to the ground. He saw those cracks again snake through the dirt and all he could think to himself was that Aurela and him were still in danger. He tried to get up. He couldn't though without Aurela's help. Aurela was preoccupied though with the events taken place about two hundred yards away.
More of the worm monsters had shown up near the reptilian squid and were attacking it. The big squid-like creature had four more tentacles pop out of the ground and they all grabbed a worm monster. One got eaten and the others were helpless in the thing's grasp as they watched their compa
nion get gobbled down.
Alerius crawled over to Aurela and grabbed her back foot. She looked down at him in terror still in a trance at what was happening right in front of her! She saw it was Alerius and helped him up again. He began to run on one leg again and one of those tremors started up again. This time though Alerius stayed steady and he heard a crashing from behind them. He knew, far off in the distance, more monsters had arrived. He really wasn't too sure if it was more of the monster snake-like things or if aiding reptilian squids had arrived for a real feast. He didn't know, he didn't want to know!
It seemed like an eternity before Alerius had to stop and rest. He looked at his leg and it was getting worse! He untied the bandana and looked at it. He looked over at Aurela wondering if she had some healing powers. He then shook his head not wanting to bother her. He wrapped his leg back up and looked around. He saw to the North a big group of dead looking trees. In all other directions though was nothing but that green and yellow patchy dirt with more of those bubbling puddles of green sludge. Alerius figured heading for the trees. Better cover. It didn't provide much but it did offer more then open land.
Aurela meanwhile was looking at Alerius's leg. She wanted to do something about it but there was nothing she could do. She had no healing powers that would help a crushed limb like his. Aurela had hardly even seen a wound in her life but she could sense that the leg was getting infected. She figured she could heal the infection but not the wound itself. She crawled over to Alerius and was about to put her hands on him. She wanted to help but something stopped her. Surprisingly to her it wasn't Alerius. A noise. A terrifying noise.
Both of them looked in the direction it had come from. Alerius and Aurela were both sitting on the ground and they both could feel the impact of this beast coming there way. Small tremors in the ground. Aurela helped Alerius up and Alerius then stood on his own. He looked in the direction of the noise which was far west. He didn't see anything but he could hear it.
It was a roar. Two of them had been heard by Aurela and Alerius. The first one caught their attention and then the second was much closer. It was a very bass-tone with a hint of a high pitch to it. It sound like a cougar only deeper with a slight high pitch, long bark. As though there were two animals but there was just one. It was loud too. Almost deafening!
As it came closer and roared for a third time, Alerius and Aurela covered their ears. The tremors in the ground got more constant and heavier. Meaning that this big roaring beast was running towards them!
When it came in sight, Alerius though he was going to collapse of a heart attack! He watched it form up from his line of sight. Almost as if some demon from the back of his mind was being born into reality. It was a dinosaur! A T-Rex! Well, at least it looked very similar to a T-Rex. The only difference was that it had slightly bigger arms and it was bigger in size altogether. About as big as a seven story building! As wide as four Mac-trucks put together!
Alerius nor Aurela had no idea what to think. The only thing Alerius knew what to do was head for the trees. He grabbed Aurela and began hoping towards the trees. He knew there was no way he could out run this thing. He couldn't even run. He could just hop along really fast. Now, more then ever, he wished he had a gun! Even if it was a small pistol. Better to have a weapon then nothing at all. He couldn't very well use a dead tree branch as a club. Though he had thought about it. The thing would probably break off right in his hand and the dinosaur would probably smile at his futile little attempt. All Alerius knew to do was to keep hopping.
He heard the trees begin to break and crack. They sounded like a heavy machine gun going off after them. He knew the thing was close. He hopped along with this massive monster on his trail. He didn't know how close though. If he would have stopped to look he would have been eaten along with Aurela.
Alerius started to exit the dead forest and beyond the dead trees he could see an entrance to a cave! The cave opening was just big enough for the two but would stop the alien dinosaur dead in its tracks. Alerius began to hop faster in hope of reaching the cave entrance before the dinosaur reached him.
He dove for the entrance when he got close enough and dragged Aurela along with him. They both landed hard inside the cave. After Alerius landed, he began to drag Aurela and himself deeper into the cave. The dinosaur slammed into the entrance and Alerius looked back when he was already a good twenty feet inside the hole. The dinosaur tried every which way to squeeze into the opening but it was impossible for the blood thirsty beast.
Alerius watched in a calm fear as the thing's mouth burst into the entrance and began chomping away at air. Thick waves of drool swung all over the place. Dripping off the cave walls and the monster's massive teeth as the monster tried to eat the both of them. After that failed, it began hammering the entrance with the side of its body. Shaking the very foundation of the cave. Small pieces of rocks and dirt came cascading down as the beast slammed into the entrance at least five times.
Finally, it gave up and stomped away. Alerius breathed a sigh of relieve and that's when the pain kicked him in his leg. He grabbed it as his full attention was now back to his leg. He felt pain while he was hopping away from the beast but he figured that now all of his attention was back on it making it feel worse. Aurela got up to a sitting stature and stayed close to Alerius. She put her hands on Alerius's bad leg.
He didn't even try to stop her. Regardless of how he felt about Aurela or the mission he would not be able to do anything with such a damaged limb. Anything she could do for it would be welcomed now. He watched as she began to strain herself. Just like before when they had escaped Scalobore. Alerius noticed this weird sensation up and down his bad leg. Almost like a numbing feeling. Aurela's eyes were shut tight and she was moaning to herself as if she was trying to lift something heavy.
Then she collapsed away from Alerius and the infection was gone. Alerius watched her fall and he caught her. She recuperated quickly though but her forehead and most of her body was damp with sweat. Her skin felt so slippery soft to Alerius. As he embraced her he felt those old feelings staring to resurface. Aurela glided one hand up his arm and touched his cheek gently. She whispered to him, "I love you."
Alerius's eyes grew. He was in shock. He didn't know what to say. He had never heard that said to him before. Never! He wanted to say he loved her too. He wanted to be with her. Him being this close to her and caressing her body only enhanced his desire. His body and heart yearned to be one with hers. Yes, he did love her. It was a fool's love but love nonetheless.
He couldn't say that though. That he loved her too. That was exactly why as well. It was a fool's love. It had no part in the mission. If he did give into his heart, he would probably let his guard down with her, get too involved with her, and get her killed. He couldn't have that. Regardless of what that white Korzen said! Alerius didn't care, he "knew" what was right. He may feel differently but he "knew" what was right. He "knew" that the mission came first. He "knew" that if he let his guard down she would die. The mission came first before anything! The mission. He had to stick to the mission. It was the only way they were going to survive.
Alerius was afraid. Afraid of what might happen if he gave into his heart. He had never known love until now and was scared of what it might lead to. He knew the mission though. He was going to stick with what he knew. He knew it was the only way for both of them to survive, so he thought.
Alerius got back up on his foot and stood as tall as he could. He had released Aurela and Aurela stood close to him. Alerius then just uttered out in response to her words, "I know."
Aurela was about to ask if he loved her but she decided to stay quiet. She figured it wasn't the right time yet to ask that question. She figured that in time he would give into his heart. She hoped that Alerius couldn't resist her charm forever. She hoped. She did love him. She knew he loved her back but she had to hear it from his own lips. She wanted to hear those words in conjunction with her name. She wanted to be with Alerius but she would
wait for the right time. When the time would be right for both of them.
Planet Traxus: The City of Varggan
Alerius and Aurela both traveled deep into the cave. They both traveled so deep soon that no light from the outside world penetrated into the dark catacombs. They took a few turns as if being guided by some unknown force. They kept going for at least half-an-hour until they came to a dead end. It was a small room. They barely fit into it because the roof was maybe three inches higher then Alerius's head. There was a wall right in front of them that seemed to encircle them. There was light in this room though unlike the rest of the cave. Small tiny fires no bigger then a fingertip.
Alerius saw that in the wall facing them was about ten small, fist-size holes and by each hole was one of those small lights. They lit up the wall and the rest of the room.
Suddenly, a giant rock moved over the opening into the room from the normal cave system sealing both of them in there.